Make the Best Turkey Chili with Leftover Turkey

Is there anything better than a hot bowl of chili on a cold day?

Here’s one of our favorite recipes for using Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. With kidney beans (canned or homemade), tomato, bell pepper, garlic and loads of spices, this chili is terrific, and easy to make with leftover shredded turkey meat – especially the dark meat!

You could also easily make this chili with cooked shredded chicken if no turkey leftovers are available.

Turkey Chili for All

Note that this turkey chili recipe makes a large pot of chili! Perfect for a gathering. Use the chili leftovers as an easy sauce with pasta or filling for enchiladas.

Serve the chili loaded high with shredded cheese and diced onions, and better still, cornbread.

Method

1 Sauté the onions, peppers, garlic, and spices: In a large, 8-quart, thick-bottom pot, heat the olive oil on medium high heat. Add the onions and green peppers and cook, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, chili powder, and cumin, and cook, stirring, for a minute or two more. Add a bit more olive oil if needed.

Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.

66 Comments / Reviews

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Katherine Crowe

Very good chili. I used a double size can of crushed tomatoes with basil and a can of chili ready diced tomatoes. I used a can of chili ready pinto beans and a can of black beans. Honestly though the size of the chili estimate wasn’t as big as stated it is something I will make again. Probably will go with the slow cooker on low rather than simmering on stovetop next time. For us, we had chili for dinner and more for lunch, but we’re only 2 people and I have had a gastric bypass and have a small stomach.

We thought this was delicious. I left out the tomato paste, didn’t feel it was necessary with the 3 cans of tomatoes. And I added some additional turkey stock to thin it down a bit more. Other than that exactly as written. Served with corn bread. A great lunch on this cold damp Sunday while watching football. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

So good, didn’t think it would work, but came out delicious! I used one can of charro beans and 2 cups of pinto beans, I also used a can of Hunt’s herb and garlic pasta sauce… I just used what was in my cabinet when your recipe called for things I didn’t have, still came out great thanks for the inspiration!

I just made this with our turkey leftovers a few days ago, and my family loved it! I said to my husband “this is probably the best chili I’ve ever had”. Super flavorful! I didn’t change anything about the recipe. I will be using this again over the winter months and will use ground turkey next time. Thanks!

Excellent way to use Thansgiving dinner leftovers. I made it tonight and it turned out awesome! I used leftover fried turkey (white and dark meat). I had some leftover turkey gravy (about 1/4 cup), about 3 slices of jellied cranberry sauce with liquid, and about 6 baby Yukon gold potatoes that I cubed into bite sized pieces and boiled. I added all of the leftovers in step 2 with the turkey. My local grocery did not have fire roasted tomatoes, but it was still great. I went heavy on the chili powder and did not add sugar. I stirred in shredded cheddar and several shakes of Louisiana hot sauce in the serving bowls. Thanks for the great recipe!

This was so good! What a great recipe! I made a few modifications. I used smoked turkey and a homemade stock from the smoked turkey bones. I sautéed everything in the drippings from the smoked turkey, and added ground coriander and cayenne to the spices. I also was short on diced tomatoes, so I used one can and a can and half of pureed tomatoes, which made it a bit sweet and thick, but I didn’t have to add any sugar and it was very hearty. Great recipe!

Hi, Pia! Emma here, managing editor for Simply Recipes! Yes, I think this recipe would do well in the pressure cooker. I’d recommend following the instructions for our Pressure Cooker Beef Chili and cooking for 20 minutes at high pressure. Let us know how it works out!

great base recipe. i thought i had chicken stock in the fridge but when i realized i didnt i subbed using my Blue Moon Pacific Apricot Wheat Ale, zested an orange, and squeezed in a bit of orange juice towards the end. also sauteed in half a jalepeno w/o seeds with the onions and pepper. was a big hit with the fam.

Hi Nicole, this recipe uses already cooked turkey meat, and a lot of the flavor comes from sautéing the onions, peppers, and garlic first. I guess after the first step you could put everything in a slow cooker. But since the simmer time is only an hour, you wouldn’t need to slow cook it that long, probably just a couple hours (and hour to warm up to simmer, and an hour to simmer).